If Kashmiri Pandits are thinking of returning to their roots, here could be one more reason to convince them other than the exhortation from Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

In something of a rarity and one which could be construed as a changing scenario in the Valley, a Kashmiri Pandit has won the panchayat elections from Wusan, a remote village in Baramulla district which boasts of 100 per cent Muslim population.

More significantly, the candidate who has won is a woman.

Naturally, 51-year-old Asha Bhat is overwhelmed at her new-found celebrity status in a Valley where till the other day Kashmiri Pandits had very little place in the mix. She defeated Sarwa Begum by 53 votes to 43.

Asha feels her win will send out a message to the Kashmiri Pandits that they should return to their roots. "My win is a message to the migrants. They should come back and live life alongside the Kashmiris," Asha said.

This was one of the reasons that prompted village elders to root for Asha. They too wanted to send a message that Kashmiri Pandits continue to be part of the state's age-old culture.

"Kashmiri Pandits were well educated people and were part of us. We wanted to convoy that we have lost a great deal because of their migration. We thought if Asha wins the election, it will inspire others to come back," Abdul Hamid Wani, a village level revenue official, said.

Wani claims there were 10 Kashmiri Pandit families in the village out of which five have migrated.

"But no Kashmiri Pandit has sold land. Their property is intact," Wani, who is close to state agricultural minister Ghulam Hassan Mir, said. Mir had also called up Asha to congratulate her. In 1984, Asha married Radha Krishan Bhat, a farmer.

He also runs a small grocery shop close to their house.

At the height of the armed insurgency in the Valley, the Bhats too thought of migrating like other Kashmiri Pandits. But they stayed back after villagers prevailed upon the family not to migrate. The Bhats have never regretted the decision.

"In the last 20 years I faced the same kind of problems which my Muslim neighbours had to encounter. During crackdowns by security forces, if their children were taken out, my children too were not spared," said the mother of two.

Her elder son is in the police while the younger one is unemployed.

Asha wants to do a lot for the village. "A large number of litigations are pending which we have to sort out. I also want to work for the development of the village." Electricity is a major problem facing the village of 300 households where most of the people are involved in farming.

"We want to change all this," Asha said. A few hundred metres from her residence is the house of Sarwa Begum who is upset that Asha was allowed inside the polling booth while she was denied entry. But her resentment is not directed towards Asha, but rather towards Wani.

" She (Asha) is my sister and I have nothing against her. I only wonder why I was not allowed inside the polling station while she was permitted to enter. I think Wani has a hand in her win," Sarwa said, as she demanded a re-poll.

But many in the village refuse to buy her argument. "She lost and that's why she is making up all these theories," a youngster said.